books.google.com - Impulsive, slightly manic anthropologist Patrick McGuffin (better known as Spoon) convinces his best friend, the quiet, dreamy Armando, to travel to Guatemala to be best man at Spoon's impending wedding into a prominent Guatemalan family. Spoon, who has always had the ability to jolt Armando out of his...https://books.google.com/books/about/Confidence_of_the_Heart.html?id=DDZbAAAAMAAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareConfidence of the Heart

Confidence of the Heart

Impulsive, slightly manic anthropologist Patrick McGuffin (better known as Spoon) convinces his best friend, the quiet, dreamy Armando, to travel to Guatemala to be best man at Spoon's impending wedding into a prominent Guatemalan family. Spoon, who has always had the ability to jolt Armando out of his paralyzing passivity, convinces Armando to make the trip by telling him that time is running out, that he must change his life if he is to have one.

From inside the book

CONFIDENCE OF THE HEART

User Review - Jane Doe - Kirkus

A man's groping attempts to reignite his life are juxtaposed with painful snapshots of political strife in Guatemala—in this energetic but uneven first novel, winner of the Milkweed National Fiction ...Read full review

About the author (1995)

David Schweidel grew up in El Paso, Texas, three miles from the Mexican border. He remembers feeling like an anthropologist long before he knew what an anthropologist was. His first novel, Confidence of the Heart, won the Milkwood National Fiction Prize in 1995. Currently, he lives in Berkeley with his wife Linda and works at the University of California.